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That is an easy question to answer.There is something that surely angers me beyond mere emotion, in righteous offence.Betrayal.I am not guilty, have not been guilty, of this above all.But I have been betrayed, and I have met betrayal. It is the worst evil in this world. I do not count errors in judgement. For betrayal, there must be a certain trust, a rare commodity. And there must be intent to destroy that trust while it is held.

The first betrayal was that which led to the war. I will leave that for now also, for the world is strange now and so much has been forgotten. - I was a child, so young, so free, all the world before me in my beloved Georgia, all my family, food, health - everything. I could do nothing but live and help my family, my people, my world to live also.

The second was my father, who betrayed my mama's memory, my uncles and aunts, the family we had all been, and I.- I left as soon as I could, to my uncle, my cousins, school, and again an attempt at life.

The third was Kate, who lied to Behan and everyone about the Benson stage robbery, and would have had me killed in Tombstone.- I gave her $1000 to leave town, and I never saw her again. Wyatt helped me.

The fourth was Ike Clanton. He did not betray me, but he tried to betray my friend Billy Leonard. He did his very worst.- We all know the result of that little fiasco.

The fifth was the men who shot Virgil and Morgan unaware.- We did our best, Wyatt and I, and the others.

The sixth was the man who tried to shake me down in Denver, to take advantage of my kindness to a poor boy.- You do not hear much about him now, do you?

The seventh was Billy Allen in Leadville, who tried to kill me for old grievance under seemingly innocent pretext.- I tried to kill him, to defend myself, surely, but I was still filled with the old anger, ill as I was.

I met each of these with courage and rage. Sometimes I feel like St. Michael, with the scales in one hand to judge the unworthy, and a Lightning in the other, in place of a sword, to send them to Hell. It is true; I did not literally kill them all. But they died to me, and I sent them all to Hell nonetheless, and there is no doubt in my mind that they arrived there, eventually. I left Georgia and I left Wyatt. I do not think that was because I was betrayed or betraying, exactly. Perhaps I was punishing myself for the seeds of it within me. Perhaps I was prudently preventing myself from doing what I would later regret. There are contradictions, sometimes. A choice between two evils. Sometimes I have decided in a split second. Sometimes I have hesitated slightly, and the further thought required on such occasions always firms my resolve and steadies my hand. Sometimes I have removed myself rather than choose which harm to take unto my cause. Loyalty above all! But that love and duty sometimes demands one relinquish one's own honour. Or - I will swallow my arrogance and admit it - relinquish what one would hold to in one's own pure selfishness. And I sometimes cannot do it, cannot bear it. There are times when I have been human, after all. There are those who would pick other occasions as fingerposts to this fact, but they are wrong.Name: John H. Holliday, DDS.Fandom: History.Word Count: 615.Please comment if you wish.Nulli Virtute Secundus